Thousands of Oklahoma maps collected by the Oklahoma Historical Society for more than a century are being scanned and placed online for easy viewing and printing by the public.
Wayne Vaughn retired after working 15 years part time at the courthouse this week (he had previously retired from the Ardmore Fire Department). Wayne worked first with the Community Service Program at the courthouse. After about 5 years that program was phased out, and Wayne moved into the maintenance department where he spent the next 10 years working part time 2 days a week. The following is a picture I took for Wayne working in his small community service office in the Annex 1 building next door to the courthouse in 2002
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/WayneVaughn2002.jpg
We all know a bond is something but up to insure you will do something and if you don't you forfeit the bond. Well, Wayne Vaughn is one of those kind of guys who does not need a bond, his word is his bond. Hard to find people like Wayne. He is one-in-a-million kind of guy.
This is a picture I took of Wayne helping with the painting of the rotunda in the courthouse back in 2007.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/WayneVaughn090407.jpg
This is a paver I made for Wayne to take home from his retirement party.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/WayneVaughnPaver.jpg
This are a couple pictures of Wayne and his party cake that was held last Tuesday at the courthouse Annex 1 building.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/WayneVaughn072815a.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/WayneVaughn072815b.jpg
A few pavers I sandblasted this week.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bricks/KelseyCunningtubbyPaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCMonteLee.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCTheMackeys.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCJulieLam.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCJessLamJr.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCJessJeanLamPaver.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/UMCpavers/UMCDannyPaver.jpg
Rush to Rush Springs, Oklahoma
It's time to celebrate the watermelon, Oklahoma's official state vegetable (yes,
you read that right. Full of watermelon-themed activities, the 71st annual Rush
Springs Watermelon Festival is set for Saturday, August 8.
http://chickasawcountry.com/events/view/rush-springs-watermelon-festival
I'm still happy with the overall effects of TruVision. Knocked those pounds off, more energy, lower BP, and feeling great. If anyone wants to try it, give me a holler. "I'll meet you at the Walmart mailbox!" Join us and check it all out at the link below.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
http://butch.truvisionhealth.com/
A friend call me this week to report his first day's results after installing one of my Okie Power Savers he had bought. He was glad to report his amps dropped about 16% after the installation, this is with his A/C running. Glad my power saver at home here is helping keep my electric bill low. I know one can help cut your electric bill too, no matter what electric service you use.
The new Microsoft Windows 10 is ready for downloading this week. I'm looking forward to install this new version of Windows, but I will wait a few weeks. With that being said, I've heard from several sources that this new version is the best Microsoft has ever came out with. And best of of it's free to those who already have Windows 7 or 8.
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/
Q. What year did Ardmore's YMCA
open?
A.
1922
Q. What is the name of the
only river in Oklahoma that flows north?
A. (answer in next week's T&T)
From This and That newsletter archives of July 28, 2001:
I was out at Lone Grove this week and stopped in to see Mrs. Wilson (Wilson Monuments). She has so much history stored away in her brain and on paper, more then I will ever know if I live to be twice as old as her!. She showed me a map of Love County (published by the Love County Chamber of Commerce) she had just received, and the first thing I noticed was O'Saviour on it. A couple of weeks ago a Healdtonite said his parents went to O'Saviour school, south of Wilson somewhere, but he wasn't sure where. The map shows it to be south of Wilson just over into Love county. If a person is going south out of Wilson on Highway 76, it looks like about 2 miles in to Love county then back west 1 mile, like you were going to Orr, Oklahoma. O'Saviour school was named after the O'Saviour family that lived in the area of Love county.
Then she said something about going to
place a monument at Petersburg. I asked where Petersburg was, and she said its
10 miles south of Ringling. She said its where they came down from Anadarko,
Oklahoma and did the excavation of the Indian ruins. I said, "Whoa!, tell me
more." She said long ago there was an Indian village just a mile south of
Petersburg, and some "historical society" people came down in the 1960s and did
a complete excavation of the ruins. Many artifacts were dug up and recovered.
She said all the artifacts were given to the Great Plains Museum at Lawton. Boy,
this was all news to me! I may have to make a trip to Petersburg!
----------------------------------------------------
I was talking one of the sheriff's
employees this week and she mentioned how she saw on TV where some law
enforcement agencies had used mystics to find missing persons, etc. Neither of
us really understand how a mystic could tell someone exactly where to go find a
person, but it happens. I mentioned this is really not new, back in 1930 an Ada,
Oklahoma mystic, Ed Kelley, was used to find missing Marshall county farmer,
Alton Edgar. The mystic travelled by car to Madill and took the relatives to a
spot SW of Madill to where the badly decomposing body lay. Mr. Edgar had been
missing a week. Here's the complete story.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/mystic.html
----------------------------------------------------
Another piece of Ardmore history was
torn down last weekend. Lt McKerson's BBQ on East Main was leveled by a
bulldozer. I remember going there so much from my early teens to adulthood. Lt
McKerson had the best BBQ gravy in town.... I could make a meal out of just his
gravy and bread!
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/McKersonBBQstand.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
A Reader sent me an old cloth pouch of Bull
Durham tobacco in the little pouch. The Durham, North Carolina company started
during the Civil War and continued to put their tobacco in little muslin bags
until the 70s. Since I'm a non smoker, I wouldn't know anything about it, but
the package is neat, and it's truly a piece of American history.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/BullDurhamPouch.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
With the hot weather Oklahoma is having
the past week or so, my mind flashed back to about 1957 when it seemed terribly
hot. We didn't have air conditioning, only a box fan in the front room window.
And the City of Ardmore would come down 3rd NE about 9pm using the fogger to
kill mosquitoes and that box fan just pulled that thick gray fog right into the
house. I didn't know if it would kill mosquitoes, but we sure thought it was
going to kill us. Anyway, it was so hot I'd go outside and sit in the swing and
cry. That swing is still on the porch at 805 3rd NE where I spent the first 21
years of my life.
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/CarmonSwing.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
"Hey Butch. I thought you might enjoy this
old family picture from my grandmother's album. I'm not sure who these people
are but they are my relatives.. It appears to have been taken at Turner
falls, probably on a Sunday picnic because they are wearing church clothes,
but the date I do not know. My family lived west of Davis, OK and my Grt.
grandfather W.H.H. Myers (William Henry Harrison Myers) had the first trading
post in Indian territory at ft. Arbuckle. I am enclosing a picture of it as
well. I have a large number of old pictures that were in her albums. Yhanks for
the great column."
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/TurnerFallsStr.jpg
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/FtArbuckleTradingPost.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
"About that viaduct - one of Daddy's
favorite stories is about the day he (Don White), his best friend Roy "Buddy"
Garnand, and his cousin Bobby Taylor were walking across the viaduct. They were
about eight-years-old, and lived on A Street - they went to that elementary
school on the other side of the tracks (which has been torn down). He said as
they were walking back home over the viaduct from the playground at school,
every church bell in town and every siren started up - people were honking horns
all over town - the boys thought something horrible had happened and ran all the
way home! The radio had just announced that WWII was over!"
----------------------------------------------------
"Butch, In 1928 Herbert Hoover was elected President of the United States and I
remember that night because it was such an eventful affair. I was reminded of
that night this evening, when I took this picture of the new Courthouse Pavilion
in Ardmore. In 1928 not many people had access to radios so the officials caused
loud speakers to be mounted on the side of the Courthouse and the results were
announced over the speakers as they came in. This lawn was crowded with
hundreds, if not thousands, of interested citizens. This had been an exciting
campaign between Hoover and Al Smith. I am sending a bit of information
concerning an analysis of that time."
""When United States voters elected Herbert Hoover 31st president in 1928, the
country was enjoying an industrial and financial boom. Within seven months of
his taking office, however, the country was swallowed up in a depression that
swept the entire world. He devised emergency measures in both the domestic and
the foreign fields. Conditions, however, grew worse steadily until by the end of
his term more than 12 million people were unemployed. Blamed for the hard times,
he was defeated in the 1932 election.""
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/PavilionJuly2001.jpg
----------------------------------------------------
-----------------------------------------------------
Some mail from this week's MAILBAG.....
"His nick name was 'Puny' Sparger. He used to announce at the Ardmore Indians baseball games played approximately where Will Rogers Elementary school is now located. I recall one game Puny made a joke about the umpire needing glasses after a questionable call. The spectators thought it funny but the ump didn't. He walked to where Puny was setting behind home plate and chastised his joking. Puny apologized and the game went on." -Dale YoungButch:
Just read a piece in an English novel that may or may not be true, but here it
is: The British Postal Service for decades in the
19th century would accept a letter with no postage, calculate the fare based on
the mileage to the recipient, then the recipient would
be asked to pay the postage when the letter was delivered. The poor English
citizens figured out how to game the system by simply mailing empty
envelopes to relatives and friends that carried a silent message: Everything's
fine with us. The recipient would then
refuse the letter. This was in the age where there were no phones so the
messages were popular and well received.
So the British changed their postal system whereby the sender would be required
to affix postage stamps to
the letter.
I'm curious if any T&T reader is aware if the U.S. Postal Service always had a policy in place (as is now) whereby the sender pays the postage or did we have the English system for a while? Curious. For what its worth, I think the USPS does a great job.
James Clark
Ardmore
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/ttphotos15b/PhoneBookRates1944.jpg
Mr. Bridges,
Found your email from a webpage. Quite interesting, my maternal grandfather owned and ran the Folsom Tractor Company until his death in 1960. As a child in the early '60's I visited my Grandmother there in Ardmore. I remember a two story white colonial house with a magnolia tree in the front, and the fireflies at night. Fond memory. I write looking for any direction you can give me to learn more about my grandfather. His widow, my grandmother, came to live with us in the panhandle of Oklahoma for a time. Being close to Ardmore, it would be nice to visit and see some of the old scenes from my childhood. You may know where the buildings are or how to find out where they were.
Kind regards,Kendall McCoy
Dallas, TX
"Somewhere Over The Rainbow... Way Up
High
There's A Land That I Heard Of
Once In A Lullaby.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow... Skies Are Blue
And The Dreams That You Dare To Dream
Really Do Come True.
Someday I'll Wish Upon A Star
And Wake Up Where The Clouds Are Far Behind Me.
Where Troubles Melt Like Lemon Drops
Away Above The Chimney Tops...
That's Where You'll Find Me.
Somewhere Over The Rainbow... Blue Birds Fly
Birds Fly Over The Rainbow... Why Oh Why Can't I?
If Happy Little Blue Birds Fly Beyond The Rainbow
Why ..Oh Why Can't I?"
-Judy Garland, The Wizard of Oz, 1939
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSZxmZmBfnU
See everyone next week!
Butch and Jill Bridges
PO Box 2
Lone Grove, Oklahoma 73443
Follow me on the TruVision lose weight program
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/truvision.html
Vicious Dog Attacks in Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/viciousdogs.html
Bells of Oklahoma
http://www.oklahomahistory.net/bellpage.html
Carter County Courthouse Paver Project
http://www.brightok.net/cartercounty/pavers
Ardmore High School Criterions Online
http://www.ArdmoreCriterion.com/
Oklahoma Bells:
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/bellpage.html
Bill Hamm's Cemetery Database
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ok/carter/cartercm.htm
American Flyers Memorial
Fund - Administration Webpage
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/crash66.html
Official American Flyers
Memorial Website
http://www.brightok.net/~wwwafm
Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force
Base Website
http://www.brightok.net/~gsimmons
Mirror Site of the Ardmore Army Air Field/Ardmore Air Force Website
http://www.OklahomaHistory.net/airbase/
Carter county schools, past and
present
http://community.webshots.com/user/oklahomahistory
Carter County
Government Website
http://cartercountyOK.us/
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